A scammer pretending to be a police officer suddenly called a reporter’s wife and said, “This is the Toyama Prefectural Police.

It was a weekday morning at the end of last year when the wife of this magazine’s reporter, who was working at home, suddenly received a high-pressure phone call from a man pretending to be a police officer.

Fake police officer: “Toyama Prefectural Police. Are you Fatty (my wife’s name)?

Wife: “Yes, I am. ……”

Fake police officer: “We have a suspicion that you are involved in a serious case. If you don’t turn yourself in immediately, you will be in serious trouble.

Wife: “Immediately? I’m a little busy, so could you send me the details in writing?”

Fake police officer: “What is shomen?”

I will later report in detail on the unfolding story of the phone call from the fake police officer.

If you feel “suspicious,” please contact ……

There have been a number of scams in which people have pretended to be police officers.

On February 25, the Anti-Gang Division of the Metropolitan Police Department re-arrested Shohei Miyashiro, an unemployed man from Oiso Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, on suspicion of fraud and other crimes. This is the 11th time Miyashiro has been arrested. He had been repeatedly committing fraud by acting as a “caller” or instructor to make fraudulent phone calls.

The alleged crimes took place between October and November 2011. The defendant Miyashiro posed as a police officer of the Fukagawa Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department and made fraudulent phone calls from Cambodia to a man (75 at the time) living in Okinawa Prefecture.

According to the audio data released by the Metropolitan Police Department, the defendant threatened the man, saying that his bank account was being used by an organized crime group. The caller allegedly told the man that he needed to prepare money for an investigation, and asked him to transfer 32.32 million yen to a designated account. In the phone data released to the public, several people appeared, including a man claiming to work at the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters,” said a reporter from a national newspaper.

So far, the police have arrested 24 members of the fraudulent group, including Miyashiro. The money the group is alleged to have swindled is approximately 160 million yen. According to the National Police Agency, the total amount of damage caused by the “oleole” scam, which involves impersonating a police officer, amounted to about 45.3 billion yen in 2012. This is a 3.4-fold increase over the previous year.

Former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist Taihei Ogawa explains.

Many of the perpetrators are based in Cambodia and other foreign countries. They do this to avoid the risk of being arrested by the Japanese police. Their modus operandi is a theatrical scam in which the roles of police officers, lawyers, etc. are fixed. They have several people appear on the stage and try to make the victims believe that they are real police officers.

But they must lack knowledge of the investigation. The way they do it is very poor. In the first place, it is impossible for the police to ask for money over the phone. If you get a call out of the blue from someone pretending to be a police officer and you suspect something is wrong, tell them, “Please tell me your phone number and the name and department of the person in charge so I can call you back,” or “Please let me record this call,” and hang up. It is important to respond to the caller without letting their pace get the better of you.